Mostly for space-saving and convenience when travelling, but also if I dislike the packaging (Guerlain Rouge G, Burberry, Lancôme Colour Design, etc.), if I have a melted/mashed bullet accident, if it's a rainy Thursday.....

I like depotting things, OKAY.

As you can see, I'm a smusher, not a melter -- because lazy, but also because texture fiend, and heat can change the way some textures/pigments sit. Process couldn't be simpler -- wipe down a spatula with some surgical spirit, chop or gouge into your product and smush the harvested cream into your clean, dry pill pot.

I love these Muji pillcases, though they are not quite as aesthetically pleasing as the Japonesque welled palettes favoured by Lisa Eldridge, because each individual pillcase snaps apart, which is far more practical to tote along for touchups for my regular person (not makeup artist) life. The individual closures also feel a little more 'airtight' to me than the large Japonesque covers; in any case, my depots have stayed perfectly creamy for over two years.
You can of course also make your own fun tetrissing many pots together to create pretty colour patterns, or an infinitely* extendable bionic poking stick with which to torment any sentient beings in the vicinity....
*well, I assume so. My record so far is 42 pots. Experiment cut prematurely short due to loud, angry protestations and dire threats issued by pokees.

You may also like to consider application preferences before depotting: as I use a lip brush with all these shades, I don't miss the bullets. But I personally wouldn't bother depotting a Fresh tinted balm, or a Suqqu creamy glow moist. It can be tricky to pick up pigment evenly with a face brush from these small openings, so I'm not sure that I'd continue to depot cream blushes in future.

24 comments:

Wow, this is impressive! I am not really a depotter. I think I depotted some of my earliest MAC shadows when I got the palettes and that's about it! Part of the reason why I like lipsticks is because I like the application process, but these little pill pots are WAY cool!

I love these, but I also love the ease of applying lipstick straight from the bullet. I really wish there was an easy way to take some lipstick for a palette & leave the bullet intact - that would be the best for me!

Brilliance on a stick! Or rather, in a pot. These are way better than the Japonesque palettes, especially if you're not a MUA. I do love applying lipsticks from the bullet, but I tend to depot the ones that I'm not sure about. Seeing them in colour groups gives me more inspiration to use them, I think.

Noooo! Reason for not depotting: applying from tube looks/feels so much more GLAMOUROUS!! It's probably more practical to depot, but...why deny yourself of the joy of pulling out a snazzy Chanel tube in public (not to mention the satisfying "click" it comes along with)?!?

all the colors - so pretty! I am just reaching the end (yay!) of some lipsticks, and I conveniently have a pillbox set that my parents didn't want, so I may start depotting! More for the fun of it than for anything else, haha.

I adore these little Muji pots! Because I travel a lot (currently 2nd month out of 3 of being abroad) these save my life in so many ways - I use them for primers (Clarins Instant Smooth, because I use this once in a blue moon but that blue moon always happens to be when I'm abroad), eye creams, lip balms (Nuxe, I'm looking at you), stick concealers. For blushes & a luminizer, all from rms beauty, I use a tiny bobbi brown palette that looks so deceptively tiny but holds so so much. Yayyy for deputing!

I always think that people who depot their products are really, really ballsy! I always am so scared at even the thought of depotting anything I own. I always feel like I will ruin it and/or immediately regret it. I am also strangely attached to packaging, no matter how nice or merely tolerable it is :P haha

I've sliced off tops of lipsticks to depot and also depotted lipsticks that have broken or favorites that have been worn down to the nub (there is quite a bit left inside the tube). I initially wasn't a huge fan of depotting because you have to tolerate a certain amount of messiness (and I am a neat freak), but have become a convert as it allows you to see most of your products at a glance and saves time and space. I've also transferred foundations to small Muji squeeze bottles and even loose powders to small bead containers with flip tops. My counter is tiny but there is a huge array of products to select from and make up application is quick and easy and actually more fun!